Benching of Rodriguez Prompts Questions About His Future

The Yankees' Alex Rodriguez took batting practice Friday, but was not in the lineup.Credit
Barton Silverman/The New York Times

Joe Girardi has ventured into uncharted territory over the past few days with his decisions regarding Alex Rodriguez, each time moving closer to a point of no return.

In Game 3 of an American League division series with the Baltimore Orioles, Girardi pinch-hit for Rodriguez in the ninth inning. In Game 4, he dropped Rodriguez two spots in the batting order, and then pinch-hit for him again. On Friday, Girardi, the Yankees’ manager, did something that would have been unthinkable just four days ago.

Rodriguez was left out of the starting lineup for the decisive fifth game of the series, a 3-1 Yankees victory that sent them to the league championship series against the Detroit Tigers. .

“It’s a tough decision, no doubt about it, because of what he’s meant to our club,” Girardi said before Game 5. “But I just felt with the trouble he’s having, I would go with Chavez. He said he’s ready to help when he’s needed to help, and let’s win today.”

Eric Chavez was in the lineup batting ninth and playing third base in place of Rodriguez, who has 647 career home runs. Girardi said that Rodriguez had been struggling so much against right-handers in the series — 0 for 11 with 7 strikeouts — that he decided to make the move, and not contemplate the long-term consequences.

“You can’t think about that now,” Girardi said. “You have to think about winning a game. This isn’t June. This is October.”

Rodriguez went through pregame warm-ups Friday afternoon and said he would be prepared to enter the game when called upon, and that he was not angry at Girardi.

“It’s never about Joe,” he said. “I always have to look in the mirror and do what I can do the best I can.”

Rodriguez said after the Orioles’ 2-1 victory in 13 innings in Game 4 that he fully expected to be in the lineup for Game 5. The Orioles started the right-handed pitcher Jason Hammel, against whom Rodriguez has a .364 lifetime average, with four home runs in 22 at-bats. But Girardi put more significance on the way Rodriguez has looked lately against right-handers than on his career numbers against Hammel.

Rodriguez went 2 for 16 in the first four games of the series with nine strikeouts, and at times has looked as lost as the numbers indicate, especially against right-handers. Had a left-hander started Game 5 for the Orioles, Girardi said, Rodriguez would have been in the lineup.

Girardi’s decision could have a lasting impact not only on his relationship with Rodriguez, but on Rodriguez’s status with the team over the next five years. He is owed $114 million through 2017, when he will be 42.

Girardi indicated that he spoke with General Manager Brian Cashman regarding the move, but said he often discusses the lineup with Cashman in June as well.

“They allow me to make up the lineup, they do,” Girardi said. “So I told him what I was thinking.”

Girardi said he did not think that benching Rodriguez would damage his relationship with Rodriguez, and that any ill effects could be repaired.

“You do think about that, but I think that if things become an issue, now’s not the time to try and work it out,” Girardi said. “We’ve got the whole off-season. But I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. I don’t.”

Rodriguez was not the only hitter struggling for the Yankees. Curtis Granderson was 1 for 16 in the first four games in the series, with nine strikeouts. Nick Swisher was 2 for 15, and Robinson Cano was 2 for 18.

But they could all bat left-handed against Hammel, and Girardi said he had liked Swisher’s at-bats, despite the results. Granderson came up with two hits, scoring one run and driving in another in Game 5, although Swisher and Cano combined to go 0 for 7.

Girardi also said that Rodriguez had no health problems, as far as he knows, and that he was merely going through a slump.

“The one thing a player has the chance to do is change history or what people think about him,” Girardi said. “That’s the one thing a player can always do. God willing, we move on and he has a great rest of the playoffs and then I think people will forget about this.”

Derek Jeter was asked after Game 4 if he was worried about Rodriguez.

“No,” Jeter said. “We’ve got to win a game. So, we all need to do well.”

Correction: October 12, 2012

A previous version of this article misspelled the surname of the Orioles’ starting pitcher. It’s Jason Hammel, not Hamel.